Posts Tagged ‘Givati’

3:00pm More IDF news — in the early afternoon, Givati and Tank troops were working to uncover terror tunnels and identified a number of terrorists emerging from a tunnel. The tanks opened fire with tank shells, and the terrorists ran to a nearby house. More shells were fired at the house, killing 3 terrorists. The IDF then blew up the terror tunnel.

2:51pm A short while ago, IDF Tzanchanim (Paratroopers) identified 4 terrorists in a house, preparing to shoot an anti-tank weapon. They coordinated with an IDF tank unit in the area which opened fire with tank shells on the house. The entire house collapsed and the terrorists were killed.

Additionally, a Givati unit located 150 mortars and an additional terror tunnel.

1:23pm From the IDF SPOX:

Givati combat troop and IDF tanks were shot at from a house in Gaza. The IDF returned fire. A terrorist was identified firing and then leaving the house and was picked up by a car for him to escape. The car was locked on by the IAF who fired at it….a direct hit on the car was verified.

As Hamas terrorists continued Sunday to fire Qassam and mid-range rockets at Gaza Belt and coastal region communities in Israel in the first half of the day, IDF soldiers in the Givati Brigade and a division of the Armored Corps pressed on in their battle with the terrorists from inside Gaza.

At least one of the terrorists was spotted getting into a vehicle, attempting to escape — but IDF troops radioed the location to IAF fighter pilots, who launched an air strike on the target.

Pilots confirmed the hit according to the IDF. The spokesperson added there were no Israeli casualties in the exchange.

In Israel, a small country where nearly everyone knows someone who has served in the army — and nearly everyone has attended at least one military funeral because of it — political leadership is no guarantee against grief, not even for the defense minister.

Moshe ‘Boogie’ Ya’alon, once this country’s IDF Chief of Staff and who now serves as Minister of Defense, is a relative of the young man whose remains are to be laid to rest later today. Ya’alon personally came together with IDF officials on Saturday night to deliver the news to the family that his young kinsman was dead. It couldn’t have been easy.

A special committee led by IDF Chief Military Rabbi Rafi Peretz had declared the death of 2nd Lt. Hadar Goldin. The determination was made after reviewing all relevant medical information, circumstantial evidence and halachic (Jewish legal) criteria.

The relationship between Ya’alon and Goldin was not previously publicized due to concerns the information would be used by Hamas terrorists to further harm the young officer, assuming he was alive.

Ya’alon’s grandfather was Goldin’s great-grandmother’s brother.

“Hadar Goldin, may his memory be blessed, was a member of my family,” Ya’alon told media on Sunday. “I’ve known him since he was born. He and the other IDF fighters went into battle in order to return quiet and security to Israel. I embrace their families,” he said sorrowfully.

Goldin was an officer in Palsar Givati, an elite reconnaissance unit of the Givati infantry brigade. His unit was attacked by Hamas terrorists Friday, August 1 about an hour and a half after the start of a humanitarian cease fire forced on Israel by the United States and the United Nations. The Israeli soldiers were ambushed in the southern Gaza border town of Rafah when a suicide bomber emerged from a tunnel and detonated himself near their unit, killing two of their men, both laid to rest earlier this weekend.

Other terrorists from the cell who quickly followed then grabbed Goldin and dragged him back into the tunnel. The men in his unit chased the terrorists but were unable to catch them; about 150 meters down the shaft, they found some of Goldin’s belongings.

Realizing they had to stop the cell from taking Goldin any farther, the elite unit began firing at targets in the surrounding area and took measures to effectively address the multiple entrances to the tunnel used by the terrorists as well.

Goldin and his girlfriend Edna became engaged just a few weeks ago, after the kidnapping and murder by Hamas terrorists of the three Israeli teens in Gush Etzion. The families of the young couple were working on their wedding preparations when they received the news the Givati officer was missing in action.

The family of Hadar Goldin has asked the Israeli public to join them in accompanying their son to his final resting place Sunday afternoon at the military plot in the Kfar Saba cemetery, at 4:30 pm local time.

Late Saturday night, the Goldin family of Kfar Saba received the sad news that a special IDF committee had concluded their son, 2nd Lt. Hadar Goldin, had fallen in combat the day before.

The 23 year old Givati platoon commander was killed in battle during the attack carried out by Hamas during a cease fire forced on Israel by the United States and the United Nations on Friday, August 1. The family was told there were enough pathological findings at the scene to declare their son’s death.

All Jewish laws, religious observances and medical criteria were taken into account prior to the ruling by a special committee headed by IDF Chief Rabbi Rafi Peretz, the IDF said in a statement to media.

A spokesperson for the family told media after the IDF announcement to thank the people of Israel for their support and to ask everyone to attend their son’s funeral “to accompany him on his final journey.”

Details are to be announced.

Goldin died in Rafah when a Hamas suicide bomber emerged from a tunnel near the Givati force and detonated himself as a diversion. Additional terrorists then attacked Goldin’s force, killing two soldiers – Major Benaya Sarel and Staff Sergeant Liel Gidoni.

The terrorists then dragged Goldin into a tunnel and later claimed he was alive.

But on Saturday a spokesman from the Izz a-Din al-Qassam military wing of Hamas said the group had lost contact with the terror cell that had been sent to ambush the platoon. He said they believed they were dead, and probably Goldin as well.

As soon as Goldin was dragged into the tunnel, other members of his platoon raced in after him to try and prevent the abduction, but they were too late.

During that search, the unit found Goldin’s personal effects during the initial search, 20 meters underground.

Their next move was to prevent the terrorists from taking Goldin farther away; they began firing in all directions and destroyed targets in as many areas as possible, including buildings, vehicles and sending smoke down the tunnel in order to kill the terrorists who had taken their commander. It is probable that Goldin also died in that effort but highly unusual for Hamas to admit that as well.

It is not clear why, in fact, the terror group is, in fact, not claiming they have a live captive – or any captive at all.

The soldier’s family was notified in person by Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, along with the head of the IDF Personnel Directorate, Maj.-Gen. Orna Barbivai and Chief Military Rabbi Peretz.

“The IDF will continue to support the family, and escort them through the grieving period,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in its statement.

Hundreds of Israelis were gathered outside the Goldin home earlier in the evening to show their support for the family. The parents of the three Israeli teens who were kidnapped and murdered by Hamas terrorists in Gush Etzion in June, (Eyal Yifrach, Naftali Frenkel and Gilad Sha’ar) also came to visit with the family and show their support. “We’re with them during this difficult time,” Avraham Frenkel, father of Naftali Frenkel, said.

The IDF has confirmed 2nd Lt. Hadar Goldin, 23 of Kfar Saba is suspected to have been abducted by Hamas terrorists at approximately 9:30 am Friday morning. His family has been notified, IDF officials said. (His family has asked the public to please pray for the safe return of Hadar ben Hedva Leah.)

Two additional IDF soldiers were killed in the same attack; their families have been notified, the IDF Spokesperson said. Their names have not yet been released.

The group of terrorists who carried out the attack, which occurred in the southern Gaza border town of Rafah, included a suicide bomber.

Goldin was allegedly grabbed and dragged into a tunnel by terrorists who emerged from the shaft while the suicide bomber detonated himself nearby as a diversion, sources said.

“The incident is ongoing and the IDF is in the midst of operational and intelligence efforts to track down the soldier,” the IDF said in a statement.

The abduction effectively ended a cease fire that was barely underway. Some 40 Gazans were killed and more than 100 wounded by Israeli shelling in the hour that followed the attack, according to local reports.

Rocket and artillery attacks on the Eshkol Regional Council district had resumed by 10 am, indicating a total collapse of the cease fire.

Asked if the cease fire was over, IDF spokesperson Lt.-Col. Peter Lerner told media in a conference call, “Yes. We are continuing our activities on the ground.”

The Kerem Shalom border crossing was immediately closed. Roadblocks were set up at various intersections on route 232 near the Gaza border as well.

At the time of the attack, the soldiers were involved in neutralizing a terror tunnel. Two soldiers wounded in other clashes in the border town were airlifted by helicopter to Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva.

A spokesperson for Hamas claimed the attack took place prior to the start of the humanitarian cease fire window, at 7 am, during an exchange of heavy gunfire between IDF soldiers and Hamas terrorists in southern Gaza.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu shortly after, according to a spokesperson for the White House. The White House issued a statement early Friday afternoon saying that if it proved true that Hamas had abducted a soldier, it would be a “barbaric” violation of the cease fire. That changed quickly when the truth became obvious.

Netanyahu informed Kerry that Hamas will bear the consequences for its “gross violation” of the cease fire, and its apparent abduction of an IDF soldier.

In a rapid follow up briefing with media, White House spokesperson Josh Earnest called on Hamas to release the kidnapped Israeli soldier. The White House spokesperson said both Kerry and Netanyahu had already discussed the next steps to be taken.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists said Egypt told the group that a planned meeting in Cairo was postponed ‘until further notice’ following notification by Israel of the soldier’s abduction by Hamas.

The European Union, however, has called on Israel and Hamas to renew the cease fire. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told media that member nations are “very troubled” by the resumption of hostilities. Ashton said it was “essential” for renewal of the truce, which must respect and end the killing of civilians.

Hundreds of Israelis might have been dead Tuesday night if not for the alert eyes of a unit of Givati soldiers, who spotted a cell of five terrorists emerging from a tunnel shaft, ready to infiltrate and carry out a terror attack in Israel.

The soldiers spotted the terrorists suddenly emerging from a tunnel shaft late Tuesday afternoon. The terrorists, realizing they were identified, fired and the battled was joined, with the IDF soldiers also opening fire. All five operatives in the cell were killed.

During the fire fight, the IDF soldiers discovered the terrorists were loaded with numerous explosive packs, ready to be carried into suicide missions and other terror attacks.

The terrorist tunnels present an unacceptable risk to Israeli communities especially along the Gaza border, and elsewhere in the country as well, government leaders have said.

Terrorists are using the tunnels to infiltrate Israel to kidnap citizens, carry out attacks and import weapons and ammunition. As a result, eliminating the tunnels has become a priority for the IDF in Operation Protective Edge.

An IDF spokesperson also revealed that earlier in the day, an armored unit identified terrorists firing anti-tank missiles; the IDF tanks returned fire and knocked out the source.